Estimated $200,000 needed for resurfacing

There’s not enough money in the Dixon Park District budget for the estimated $200,000 resurfacing project, park board members said Wednesday, nor will there be in the near future.

Park board members are eyeing a referendum in 2016 or 2017 and looking at resurfacing the roads over a 5-year period.

Roads at Lowell Park were last resurfaced in 1997, according to Deb Carey, park district executive director. That project included tar and chipping the road surface and fixing culverts.

The culverts would not need to be redone, but the plan calls for at least a tar-and-chip job on the park roads.

Board members said they would like to blacktop the roads, but Carey said it could cost close to $750,000.

“I don’t see a possibility to get $200,000 for repairs under [our tax caps],” Carey told the board Wednesday. “We’re going to have to get creative.”

Looking at the referendum 3 to 4 years down the road was considered, because the park board did not want to get in the way of any efforts by Veterans Memorial Pool supporters to pass any sort of referendum.

“It’s worth a shot,” said park board member Shane Miller.

In order for the road projects to be put on a referendum, the park board would have to file a detailed engineering report of the projects cost and allocate the funds specifically for it, Carey said.

The roads could hold up for another few years, until the referendum, Carey said.

To attend

The Rock Falls Township High School board next meets at 7 p.m. Oct. 16, in room 137 at the high school, 101 12th Ave. in Rock Falls.